How many of you all follow ABC's Once Upon A Time? I rarely miss an episode. Sunday's episode, Skin Deep, we see another side of Rumpelstiltskin.
The show re imagines fairy tales through taking what we know and adding in other details. More than one fairy tale might be mashed together to come up with another story.The Evil Queen (also the mayor, Regina, of Storybrooke) has put a curse on all the peoples of the Enchanted Forest...brought into our world and our time they don't know who they were as fairy tale creatures. They end up in Storybrooke...living lives with false memories and no idea who they really are.
Emma Swan, who becomes the sheriff in later episodes, is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming (but she doesn't know that). All Emma knows is that she was given up as a baby and was passed from one foster home to another. Her son was adopted out, and it's that son that finds her and brings her to Storybrooke. Henry (Emma's son) is convinced that Emma is the only one who can break the curse.
However, Regina will stop at nothing for her plans to go as she wants them and nobody but Regina knows what those are.
Mr. Gold (Rumpelstiltskin) is feared for his "deals" and ruthlessness, but was he always such a scary being? At one point he was a father, a man who was afraid to fight in a war and left the army. But when he grabs power for himself and is changed by it, he loses what's left of his humanity...or did he?
The episode was a fascinating re-telling of Beauty & The Beast told in a fashion I totally didn't expect. However, not all fairy tales in Once Upon A Time have happy endings and the Beast (or in this case, Rumpelstiltskin) might never know the truth.
So what do you think? Do you think a creature like Rumpelstiltskin could have redeeming qualities like the Beast in Beauty & The Beast, or do you think someone that ruthless will never change?
There's all kinds of books out there dealing with this kind of redemption. Love conquering all...and in a lot of ways, that's what the Romance genre is. In fact, that's what some of my own stories have in them...a sense of redemption...someone might not start out as a hero, but in the end, love changes him or her.
What books have you read with that kind of a story line and what do you think about love redeeming a character?
Have A Magical Monday!
